There have been large increases in budget deficits throughout the EU, leading to considerable rises in the stock of public debt as a percentage of GDP. The costs of maintaining high debt levels should not exaggerated.
The current Spanish EU Presidency has faced a number of tough challenges. These include reaching an agreement on an EU strategy for employment and growth (EU 2020), managing the acute financial crisis in Greece and the EU response to the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile, argues the author of this mid-term review of the achievements of the Spanish Presidency.
Swedish public opinion on EU Affairs has undergone considerable changes since 1995 and Swedes are gradually becoming more positive to membership. According to the latest survey there is, for the first time since 1995, a majority of Swedes are in favour of membership in the European Union.
The debate about a social Europe has lasted for a long time but led to modest results. The Lisbon Treaty states, for the first time, that the EU is a social market economy.
Is it permissible, according to EU law, to take social considerations into account in the field of public procurement? Could one, for instance, promote gender equality, integration of disabled persons and good working conditions? The authors of the report Public Procurement and Labour in the EU believes that this is the case, but argues that Sweden could use this scope better than today. The report is in Swedish, but contains a summary in English.
The economic and financial crisis was one of the most important issues handled during the Swedish EU presidency. The outcome, preceded by at times difficult negotiations, was a political decision concerning a new framework for supervision of the financial market in the EU.
Improved quality of regulation and legislation is now a pronounced objective at European as well as national level. The European Commission have for some years now tried to convince EU member states to reduce the administrative burdens – especially for companies – and make regulatory impact assessment an integrated part of their regulatory process.
The Swedish courts are now in a legal system covering the whole of Europe and their practices. In the case of a preliminary ruling from the European Court of Justice, this is central to the EU's impact in Sweden.
The debate on reform of the EU budget has hitherto primarily centred on how EU money should be spent. But a true reform calls for serious handling of the financing of the budget as well, argues the author of this new analysis.
Despite ambitious targets for greenhouse gas emissions reductions, renewable energy use and energy efficiency, the EU was unable to play a central role in last year´s climate negotiations in Copenhagen. Lack of internal coordination was one reason, the EU budget not being adapted to the climate goals another.